The patents on the MP3 codec are going to expire in a few years. The same cannot be said for the other codecs you mentioned. When the MP3-related patents expire Amazon can encode music without paying royalties and MP3 player manufacturers can make MP3 players without paying royalties. Whether the cost savings get passed to customers is another matter, but there is a soon-to-be-realised financial incentive associated with sticking to the MP3 codec.
The other good thing about the patents on MP3 expiring is of course that Linux distributions will be able to play MP3 files legally without installing extra codecs or anything like that.
Unfortunately I think a lot of people are going to miss this very good point.
Yes, it's bad that a judge isn't more familiar with the internet, but he could probably have bluffed his way through the case and that would have been much worse.
I think it's quite clear that many judges and politicians are doing their job without necessarily understanding the consequences of rulings or laws that they are implementing due to a lack of understanding when it comes to technology. It is far better for them to admit a lack of understanding and allow that to be rectified.
I agree with you that the announcements have been good, but none of the things you mention have actually happened yet. I'm not doubting that they will happen, just pointing out that nothing has improved just yet.
Soon we will be able to buy unencrypted music on iTunes. Soon we will be able to buy Dell machines that come with Ubuntu preinstalled. Soon we will be able to buy ATI graphics cards and use them properly.
Both the iTunes and Dell things appear to be imminent, though.
"I certainly would not push the large IT companies to put Linux on consumer PCs, because I understand that in their business, the cost of a user accidentally getting Linux, thinking that they get cheap Windows would be a problem for the companies selling the computers. So I don't think it is really ready yet for mass consumer sales of Linux on desktop. But I think in strategic target markets, like workstation or in emerging markets, there are good opportunities and we work with the companies in those markets to execute on those opportunities."
and...
derStandard.at: So are we going to get pre-installed Ubuntu on Dell computers? Mark Shuttleworth: Well - time will tell. derStandard.at: Are there active talks on that? Mark Shuttleworth: I would not comment on any conversations underway.
My conclusion is that they are in talks with Dell. If they were not he would have given a simple "no", but the fact that he said he wouldn't comment suggests that there are some sort of talks going on that they don't want to announce just yet.
I don't think they should make shows with taxpayer money and then charge the taxpayers again if the taxpayers want to watch those shows. It's even worse that they claim to be making "everything available to everyone" when they have a very explicit copyright notice on the page that says others may not distribute the works for any purpose.
People who intend to make "everything" available to "everyone" do not tell people that they do not have permission to distribute parts of "everything".
The kid was right that YouTube and the uploaders did not have permission to use/distribute these works. It seems YouTube has now been given implicit permission to use ABC works for commercial gain.
I agree it's absurd. As far as I know the ABC is a corporation owned by the Australian government. That seems to be how they circumvent the government-stuff-is-public-domain thing.
If you take a look at The Chaser's vodcast page it says the following, which I believe contradicts Ms Gibson's comments:
This video podcast is made available for use by persons located in Australia only. If you are not located in Australia, you are not authorised to use this podcast. The ABC grants you a licence to download these audio-visual files for your private, personal, domestic, non-commercial use only. You may not use these audio-visual files for any other purpose (including but without limitation downloading, editing, or using these files for the purpose of (a) distribution to a third party; or (b) promoting, advertising, endorsing or implying a connection with you (or any third party) and the ABC, its agents or employees).
This is actually quite annoying for me because (as an Australian) I pay for them to make this show, but I am not allowed to convert the episodes to Vorbis/Theora and put them on a website for other people to download.
As a free software developer, I'm interested in the GPLv3 beyond the FUD that comes from certain companies or the Linux kernel developers. I am looking forward to using the GPLv3 because I believe all of the changes being made are good ones.
From the article: Galvin cited as an important factor in favor of AutoMARK its machine's use of one kind of paper ballot for disabled voters and others.
He said that gave extra privacy to disabled voters.
"If you happened to have only one disabled voter in a precinct, that person's ballot is easily identifiable," he said.... so we actually do know at least one reason why AutoMARK was picked.
I absolutely agree with you that anyone who can eloquently express their views in their own writing should do so. I think there's no doubt that there's a number of people who are better represented by the default letter, though. Not because they don't care about the issue enough, but because they lack the written language skills required. They probably still have enough money to buy computers though, so they're still worth listening to!
What is "astroturfing", anyway? Anyone who bothers to send the letter obviously cares, and there's not really any unscrupulous companies pushing for free software drivers, so no one is getting paid to send the emails. Since when is thousands of legitimate customers or would-be customers requesting something from a company known as "astroturfing"?
I recently purchased one of your [graphics cards || notebooks || desktops] that had contained an ATI GPU. While I realize your products are catered toward Microsoft Windows users as they are your largest consumer base, I wish to use this product with Linux. I had used the [your model number for their product] with the ATI Linux drivers, and while they have improved a great deal recently, I still feel there is much room for improvement. The drivers in their current form run much slower under Linux than Windows, lack support for AIGLX (a visual desktop feature), and other features found within the Windows Catalyst drivers but not Linux.
I do realize you may not officially support Linux and that you have limited control over the development of these drivers, but I would kindly ask that you forward this comment to AMD and that you ask them to channel additional resources to the development of these drivers. In good time you should make Linux support from AMD a requirement. Another step that I would hope to see is including the ATI Linux display drivers on your support/driver CD. As the adoption of Linux on desktops continues to increase, I hope you are able to jointly improve your Linux presence with ATI/AMD.
The thing about targetted advertising is that they're trying to make sure they're advertising something you do want.
GNOME, Ubuntu, and the colour green...
on
Gnome 2.18 Released
·
· Score: 5, Interesting
I'm looking at this screenshot and thinking that it looks quite good. People often complain about the brown in Ubuntu being "ugly", and Ubuntu has stated that they don't want to be "just like Windows" by going for blue. Well, based on that screenshot, I think green would be a good choice.
I wouldn't, because I know how to install it myself, but if I didn't know how to install it myself I'd be willing to pay at least half of what Microsoft Office would cost me.
Why would Dell offer support for OpenOffice? Does Dell offer support for Microsoft Office? As far as I know, Microsoft provides the support for Microsoft Office, and I can't see why Dell would offer support for OpenOffice since they have nothing to do with its development.
That's actually not true. If Dell were to add an option on their website saying "OpenOffice $25", they would be allowed to charge the $25 to bundle OpenOffice with a Dell computer.
Nothing in the GPL forbids Dell or anyone else for charging money for the software, so Dell wouldn't just "take a cut", they can set the price they like and take 100% of it rather than having to give some of it to Microsoft.
Yeah, this is obvious, and I'd argue that it's not really even news. I'm not sure that Microsoft has ever tried to hide the fact that they would prefer people run their software, even if that means they're running a pirated version. It's just that they've never openly stated this until now.
If every person who pirates Microsoft software suddenly switched to Ubuntu and OpenOffice, suddenly the Microsoft lock-in (eg. doc files, wmv videos, wma audio files, etc) would not be quite as powerful as it is at the moment.
It looks like a phishing site to me. Some weird company called Microblast or something is trying to create an expensive proprietary rip-off of OpenOffice.org. It probably comes with all kinds of spyware, too.
When you say "replacement" you have to define what type of user you are talking about. I'm a casual user of office software, so I might use it to type a letter I intend to print, or to create a spreadsheet for personal use. For my purposes, OpenOffice is easily a replacement.
I think you'll find that for most students writing up essays or school projects, OpenOffice is also a suitable replacement.
Perhaps there are some users in business environments who need more out of their office software than OpenOffice offers (I can't really imagine what...), but for at least 50% of users, I think OpenOffice would be a very decent replacement, especially considering the cost savings.
Slashdot Mirror
The patents on the MP3 codec are going to expire in a few years. The same cannot be said for the other codecs you mentioned. When the MP3-related patents expire Amazon can encode music without paying royalties and MP3 player manufacturers can make MP3 players without paying royalties. Whether the cost savings get passed to customers is another matter, but there is a soon-to-be-realised financial incentive associated with sticking to the MP3 codec.
The other good thing about the patents on MP3 expiring is of course that Linux distributions will be able to play MP3 files legally without installing extra codecs or anything like that.
Unfortunately I think a lot of people are going to miss this very good point.
Yes, it's bad that a judge isn't more familiar with the internet, but he could probably have bluffed his way through the case and that would have been much worse.
I think it's quite clear that many judges and politicians are doing their job without necessarily understanding the consequences of rulings or laws that they are implementing due to a lack of understanding when it comes to technology. It is far better for them to admit a lack of understanding and allow that to be rectified.
I agree with you that the announcements have been good, but none of the things you mention have actually happened yet. I'm not doubting that they will happen, just pointing out that nothing has improved just yet.
Soon we will be able to buy unencrypted music on iTunes.
Soon we will be able to buy Dell machines that come with Ubuntu preinstalled.
Soon we will be able to buy ATI graphics cards and use them properly.
Both the iTunes and Dell things appear to be imminent, though.
I prefer Digitally Crippled Entertainment.
"I certainly would not push the large IT companies to put Linux on consumer PCs, because I understand that in their business, the cost of a user accidentally getting Linux, thinking that they get cheap Windows would be a problem for the companies selling the computers. So I don't think it is really ready yet for mass consumer sales of Linux on desktop. But I think in strategic target markets, like workstation or in emerging markets, there are good opportunities and we work with the companies in those markets to execute on those opportunities."
and...
derStandard.at: So are we going to get pre-installed Ubuntu on Dell computers?
Mark Shuttleworth: Well - time will tell.
derStandard.at: Are there active talks on that?
Mark Shuttleworth: I would not comment on any conversations underway.
My conclusion is that they are in talks with Dell. If they were not he would have given a simple "no", but the fact that he said he wouldn't comment suggests that there are some sort of talks going on that they don't want to announce just yet.
I don't think they should make shows with taxpayer money and then charge the taxpayers again if the taxpayers want to watch those shows. It's even worse that they claim to be making "everything available to everyone" when they have a very explicit copyright notice on the page that says others may not distribute the works for any purpose.
People who intend to make "everything" available to "everyone" do not tell people that they do not have permission to distribute parts of "everything".
The kid was right that YouTube and the uploaders did not have permission to use/distribute these works. It seems YouTube has now been given implicit permission to use ABC works for commercial gain.
I agree it's absurd. As far as I know the ABC is a corporation owned by the Australian government. That seems to be how they circumvent the government-stuff-is-public-domain thing.
If you take a look at The Chaser's vodcast page it says the following, which I believe contradicts Ms Gibson's comments:
This video podcast is made available for use by persons located in Australia only. If you are not located in Australia, you are not authorised to use this podcast. The ABC grants you a licence to download these audio-visual files for your private, personal, domestic, non-commercial use only. You may not use these audio-visual files for any other purpose (including but without limitation downloading, editing, or using these files for the purpose of (a) distribution to a third party; or (b) promoting, advertising, endorsing or implying a connection with you (or any third party) and the ABC, its agents or employees).
This is actually quite annoying for me because (as an Australian) I pay for them to make this show, but I am not allowed to convert the episodes to Vorbis/Theora and put them on a website for other people to download.
As a free software developer, I'm interested in the GPLv3 beyond the FUD that comes from certain companies or the Linux kernel developers. I am looking forward to using the GPLv3 because I believe all of the changes being made are good ones.
From the article:
... so we actually do know at least one reason why AutoMARK was picked.
Galvin cited as an important factor in favor of AutoMARK its machine's use of one kind of paper ballot for disabled voters and others.
He said that gave extra privacy to disabled voters.
"If you happened to have only one disabled voter in a precinct, that person's ballot is easily identifiable," he said.
I absolutely agree with you that anyone who can eloquently express their views in their own writing should do so. I think there's no doubt that there's a number of people who are better represented by the default letter, though. Not because they don't care about the issue enough, but because they lack the written language skills required. They probably still have enough money to buy computers though, so they're still worth listening to!
What is "astroturfing", anyway? Anyone who bothers to send the letter obviously cares, and there's not really any unscrupulous companies pushing for free software drivers, so no one is getting paid to send the emails. Since when is thousands of legitimate customers or would-be customers requesting something from a company known as "astroturfing"?
If you want Linux drivers, you have to let these companies know:
ASUS
Lenovo
HP
Power Color
HIS Tech
Sapphire
The suggested letter is:
Subject: Product Feedback
To whom it may concern,
I recently purchased one of your [graphics cards || notebooks || desktops] that had contained an ATI GPU. While I realize your products are catered toward Microsoft Windows users as they are your largest consumer base, I wish to use this product with Linux. I had used the [your model number for their product] with the ATI Linux drivers, and while they have improved a great deal recently, I still feel there is much room for improvement. The drivers in their current form run much slower under Linux than Windows, lack support for AIGLX (a visual desktop feature), and other features found within the Windows Catalyst drivers but not Linux.
I do realize you may not officially support Linux and that you have limited control over the development of these drivers, but I would kindly ask that you forward this comment to AMD and that you ask them to channel additional resources to the development of these drivers. In good time you should make Linux support from AMD a requirement. Another step that I would hope to see is including the ATI Linux display drivers on your support/driver CD. As the adoption of Linux on desktops continues to increase, I hope you are able to jointly improve your Linux presence with ATI/AMD.
[your name]
The thing about targetted advertising is that they're trying to make sure they're advertising something you do want.
I'm looking at this screenshot and thinking that it looks quite good. People often complain about the brown in Ubuntu being "ugly", and Ubuntu has stated that they don't want to be "just like Windows" by going for blue. Well, based on that screenshot, I think green would be a good choice.
So what we really need to do is go to the crapware makers and ask them to make crapware for Linux?
Most people would pay something for it.
I wouldn't, because I know how to install it myself, but if I didn't know how to install it myself I'd be willing to pay at least half of what Microsoft Office would cost me.
Why would Dell offer support for OpenOffice? Does Dell offer support for Microsoft Office? As far as I know, Microsoft provides the support for Microsoft Office, and I can't see why Dell would offer support for OpenOffice since they have nothing to do with its development.
I'm not saying what they should charge for, just making it clear that they can charge extra for including OpenOffice.
That's actually not true. If Dell were to add an option on their website saying "OpenOffice $25", they would be allowed to charge the $25 to bundle OpenOffice with a Dell computer.
Nothing in the GPL forbids Dell or anyone else for charging money for the software, so Dell wouldn't just "take a cut", they can set the price they like and take 100% of it rather than having to give some of it to Microsoft.
Yeah, this is obvious, and I'd argue that it's not really even news. I'm not sure that Microsoft has ever tried to hide the fact that they would prefer people run their software, even if that means they're running a pirated version. It's just that they've never openly stated this until now.
If every person who pirates Microsoft software suddenly switched to Ubuntu and OpenOffice, suddenly the Microsoft lock-in (eg. doc files, wmv videos, wma audio files, etc) would not be quite as powerful as it is at the moment.
I probably shouldn't even be telling you this, but... this is so secret that you shouldn't even scold Slashdot for posting about it!
This was a problem in the first few days of Windows Vista at the airport, but now we just click "Allow" for everything and it seems to work fine.
It looks like a phishing site to me. Some weird company called Microblast or something is trying to create an expensive proprietary rip-off of OpenOffice.org. It probably comes with all kinds of spyware, too.
When you say "replacement" you have to define what type of user you are talking about. I'm a casual user of office software, so I might use it to type a letter I intend to print, or to create a spreadsheet for personal use. For my purposes, OpenOffice is easily a replacement.
I think you'll find that for most students writing up essays or school projects, OpenOffice is also a suitable replacement.
Perhaps there are some users in business environments who need more out of their office software than OpenOffice offers (I can't really imagine what...), but for at least 50% of users, I think OpenOffice would be a very decent replacement, especially considering the cost savings.